...The Mules may be riding a wave of postseason magic, but the Knights are drawing from valuable experience on this stage. Geneseo has reached the national semifinals in two of the last five years (2014 and 2016).

“What’s going to help us, I think, is that our juniors and seniors have been there before,” said Geneseo head coach Chris Schultz, the 2016 Division III coach of the year. “At least for me it’s, ‘Hey we got there before, I’ve been to the Frozen Four twice, this group of players has been there once.’

“It was a great experience the first time and it was a great experience the second time, but the truth is that the more I think about it the more aggravated I am that we didn’t win one of those games to get to the national final. I think our juniors and seniors feel a little bit of that, too.”

Colby Hockey@ColbyHockeyA good skate is on the books, the gear is on its way and we're on the road. @themules are off to Geneseo, NY for the NCAA Quarterfinals #colbyhockey #muletrain #holdthehill #d3hkypic: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYX2boiW4AASCr8.jpg

This week in men’s D-III East: Mules show ability to adapt for success

... “I think the key moment was a team meeting we had about six weeks ago,” said Colby senior goaltender Sean Lawrence. “As a team, we really sat down and did a dissection of everything going on in our game. Everyone was involved, and it helped us change some important defensive system stuff, including a lot of little things like blocking shots. The coaches put great stuff together for us, but we had to buy-in and execute on the plan and commit to doing all the little things like blocking shots. Against UNE last week, we had 24 blocks. As a goalie, you see your teammates make that commitment to play in the defensive end and it just makes you want to stop everything they don’t.”

The run Colby is on is fueled by a lot of factors, including great goaltending from Lawrence, great team defense, and four lines that have been opportunistic in scoring at critical times and in all situations in these “win-or-go-home” games.

Colby College@ColbyCollegeSTOPPING POWER. @ColbyHockey, led by stellar goaltending from Sean Lawrence ‘18, looks to continue their playoff run this weekend in upstate New York. They will take on @sunygeneseo Saturday night at 7:00. Tune into the live-stream here: https://boxcast.tv/view/mens-ice-hockey ... seo-668063 … @themules #GoMules

Colby Athletics @themulesGOAL!!!!! 2 seconds left and Justin Grillo scores for Colby!! Mules win! Colby in Frozen Four next weekend in Lake Placid. The first Miracle on Ice happened at Lake Placid in 1980. The Mules get their miracle goal to get to Lake Placid.

Colby College men’s hockey enjoying ‘miracle’ runGrillo's heroics have Mules headed to Frozen Four in Lake Placid this week.

...“Sometimes I joke that it’s karma,” Grillo said Monday following an energetic practice at Alfond Rink. “After the snowstorm last week, Billy Overby and I saw a kid walking alone through the blizzard, so we stopped and picked the kid up. After the game, (Overby) was like, ‘That was karma from that. It had to be something.’

“It could be karma, it could be puck luck, it could be a number of things. I don’t know, but it’s something I’ll never forget.”

Senior netminder Sean Lawrence, who made 17 saves in the third period alone against Geneseo to give Colby hope, has gone 7-0-2 between the pipes in his last nine starts to mirror the team’s current unbeaten stretch. The Mules have beaten teams ranked in the nation’s top seven in each of their last three games.